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My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

TageWW
Explorer C

My wife and me are travelling on companion pass, and there is a slight chance I won't be able to join her, will she still able to board and travel without the companion?

 

I will not be cancelling any tickets, want to make sure she will be able to travel with the companion pass

-Thank you!

10 REPLIES 10

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

dfwskier
Aviator A

If she is the companion, then in order to fly, she would need you to fly too.It's either both or none.

 

If you are the companion, then she can fly even if you do not.

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

TageWW
Explorer C

Thanks for the prompt response, looks like I would need to cancel the tickets as she is the companion and get her regular fare ticket to be on the safe side.

 

Interesting you would think that you are keeping both the tickets it should not matter southwest if one of them is not taking the flight.

 

Trying to understand how does it help SW if there are valid tickets for both but only one is able to make the flight.

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

dfwskier
Aviator A

I guess the reason is that the rules of the program are that the companion MUST fly with a paying passenger. If that were not the case it would not take long for everyone to figure out that they could game the system by making companion reservations and paying reservations - and have the paying passenger cancel. Thus giving the companion a potential for unlimited free trips.

 

 

 

Be careful of double booking. If you buy your wife a ticket and not cancel the companion ticket, then Southwest (actually all airlines) will cancel one of the tickets. Which one? I dunno.

 

The rule is if the airline figures out it is not possible to take both flights, then it will cancel one of them. Now if one is on one day and the other is the next day, then no problem. If the first flight is the beginning of the day and the next is hours later - end of day - probably no problem - as it might be possible to make both flights.

 

I guess I'm proposing a way for you the keep the companion flight active - in case you can make it, while also providing a way for your wife to make the flight if you do not.

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Since the companion can be added quickly and at the last minute, cancel the companion reservations now, book wife a paid fare, with points or fully refundable if you want refundability, then if you do decide to go, cancel the paid reservations for your wife and add the companion reservations. Definitely do not have multiple reservations for the same person.

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

dfwskier
Aviator A

@TheMiddleSeat wrote:

Since the companion can be added quickly and at the last minute, cancel the companion reservations now, book wife a paid fare, with points or fully refundable if you want refundability, then if you do decide to go, cancel the paid reservations for your wife and add the companion reservations. Definitely do not have multiple reservations for the same person.

 

--TheMiddleSeat


That is a far better option than the one I posted

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

TageWW
Explorer C

Thanks again!

 

I am planning to keep me and my wife ticket active even if I am not able to fly, that is the plan.

 

hopefully she will be able to fly alone as both mine and her ticket will be active.

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

dfwskier
Aviator A

@TageWW wrote:

Thanks again!

 

I am planning to keep me and my wife ticket active even if I am not able to fly, that is the plan.

 

hopefully she will be able to fly alone as both mine and her ticket will be active.


  I'll state this clearly to be sure there is no misunderstanding - if you do not fly, your wife will not be allowed to fly.

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

tappingmom1
Frequent Flyer B

This is the reason why I love this forum!

 

The responses from the long-time community members, who commented upstream on this thread, are so spot-on and helpful.  I really appreciate the time they spend in helping those who have questions.

 

Kudos to them!!

Re: My wife and me are travelling on companion pass

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@TageWW wrote:

My wife and me are travelling on companion pass, and there is a slight chance I won't be able to join her, will she still able to board and travel without the companion?

 

I will not be cancelling any tickets, want to make sure she will be able to travel with the companion pass

-Thank you!


It sounds like you are thinking that if you paid for a ticket and didn't fly, but just planned to eat the cost of the ticket as if you were flying that you'd be "even" with the airline - that might be the case, but the benefit is written up as being only for a companion when the companion passholder is also flying and the terms are clear that the companion wouldn't be able to fly separately.

 

One reason for this is that Southwest has always had a track record of last-minute flexibility with people able to cancel or change their flights up to 10 minutes prior to departure. Their attitude would be that if you need to change your flight, the companion can wait and go with you when you do fly.

 

In fact for Business Select if you no-show the flight you'll automatically get Travel Credit and your spot will be canceled. That used to also work for points bookings, but they changed it to forfeit the points only recently this year. 

 

All of the booking system and rapid reward perks break down if the original ticket holder doesn't actually fly.

 

Anyway, the workaround here is to cancel the companion pass ticket and re-book with points to hold a flexible spot. Then if you will be traveling, call or otherwise have the points ticket refunded and swap in the companion - you can even do this on the same day in some cases. 

 

This doesn't work in reverse - if you get up to a few days out and decide to cancel teh companion and rebook points or cash the ticket price will be higher! So the other method is recommended to lock in a low points cost, since the last minute substitution will be free (*plus taxes and fees) regardless of the current market rate.

 

The only hiccup is if the flight is oversold due to plane swap or other irregular operations there may not be a chance to swap back in the companion for free - always go to the website and try to buy 1 ticket and see if it lets you start that process - if a ticket is available, then do the companion swap-out.

 

 

 

 

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